40(5 



Oh/ervations refpeSJing Emigration to America, [Dec. J, 



for the Monthly Magazine. 

 ©BSERVATiONS and ChVTiofia refpeSling 



tViiGKATlON to AMERICA. 



[CondudeJfromp. 313 of our lajl Number .'] 



NEXT to the ftaple article of food, 

 Indian corn, we may rank, rice.^ 

 Tnatt.f fheCarolinas is excellen*, but its 

 cultivation is (Irendfully pernicious, as it 

 is titber planted in ridgfs, between the 

 interfnces of which water muft be let in, 

 and ;ne cul'ivstor mn't conllanily wade 

 thfii;;!! thefe little canals half way up 

 his le;^ in water, and the reft of his body 

 expofcd to the rays of ilie inn ; or in 

 f -'amps, where he is fubiert to the fame 

 Inconveiiierces. Negroes alone do this 

 eiricej and indeed it is the only employ- 

 ment wha;evtr which a white man may 

 not do in any part of the United States. 

 Whether this fing'e artic!<; be wv-rth the 

 burthen of fo infamous a trnffic as the 

 flave-irade, will I believe admit of bt:t 

 one an(w.r — No, The other articles, 

 which aiechitfiy ihofe of export, are to- 

 bacco, a very precarious croii, lumber, 

 jjotafti, turpen'inr, tar, pitch, indijfo, 

 and co'tjo. All th'fe, except rice, aie 

 the natural prodiiciion* of the ci ur.ti y, 

 And, as BufFon ohlerves in his Natural 

 Hftjiytlut "Every countiy, every de- 

 Riee of tcrnpcratuie, h^s its particular 

 plants," natme appears to legard all ex- 

 otics with the jeal us eves of a ftepdame. 

 Barley, for inl-ance, does not thrive fo 

 Kve!l as wheat, oats no bttter than bailey, 

 but rye is good, thtugh not in plentiiul 

 crops. Peaohts are aliundant in the 

 fouthern (fates, but ih-v ate bv no means 

 equal in flavour to thofe of Europe, and 

 will not pay either for hog-feeiliiig as 

 they fa'l to the ground, or t^r gathering 

 to cany to the market, or to diftil them 

 into what is called peach-brandy. There- 

 fore more of thoie otchnrds are grubbed 

 up to raiie Indian corn than there are new 

 ones planted. Apples and pears are good : 

 but as for garden-fiuits, fuch as goofe- 

 berries, apricots, &c. they feldom come 

 to perfcdion. Potatoes and turnips are 

 good, but as they aie only in dernand for 

 the table, and cattle prefer corn-blades to 

 them, it will not anf-' c- to raife them in 

 large quantities. 



I have now run through the molt confi- 

 dcrab'e aricles of the produce of the 

 United States, and the European farmer 

 will eafdy perceive that it is almolt impof- 

 iible, even if he can overcome his old ha- 

 bits and confcrin to the niodes of the 



country, to grow rich by hufbandry. I 

 have never known a fingle inttance of an 

 Englifh farmer who has fucceeded, but 

 many who have loft both their labour and 

 money. 



After all, your readers may wi(h to be 

 fatisned how it has happened that the po- 

 pulation of the Ufiited States has always 

 increafed, and ftill continues to increafe, 

 in fpite of all thefe difadvantages, and I 

 fliall endeavour to explain it to them. 



There have always exited in human 

 nature two op|iofite difpoiitions— a love 

 of novelty, and an attachment to long- 

 eftabliflied cultoms. The latter is the ef- 

 feft of eafy circumftances and of habit, 

 or education, which forms habits. It ij 

 chiefly, predominant in perfons of mode- 

 rate capacities, a"d fettUd and fyflematic 

 principfs. It binds men to a certain itt 

 of cultoins, which tiiey derive as it were 

 from inheri'ancc, and incafed in it as the 

 filkworiT) in a prifon of its own forma- 

 tion, they are content to be regularly fyf- 

 tematic, and, if I may be allowed the 

 exprrffion, mechaiiically happy. Thele 

 are (atiified to remain en the fjot whers 

 nature firlt calt them. The former is in- 

 grafted on curiofity, which is inherent to 

 eveiy mind in a gi eater or lels degree ; it 

 becomes the ruling paffion of the ardent 

 proj-^flor, and is the ignis fatuus which 

 coidtmtly aliuies and bewilders the ima- 

 gination of the volatile and unlettled, 

 who fpcnd their time, like the Athenians, 

 in iiiquiiing afte' Ibme " new thing."— 

 This dil'polition makes the mind unliable, 

 by Icad'Tg it from certain enjoyments info 

 the labyiinth of imaginary hai^pinds, and 

 when it is once launched into he bound- 

 lefs field of fpecnlaiion, in its ra(/id fearch 

 for new frivolities, and flight from one 

 halffiniflied experiment to another, it 

 leavei behind the Ibund maxims of reafon 

 and the fober diftates of tiutiv. The 

 latter of thefe habits forms what is called 

 a roving difpofition, and is one great 

 caule of the perpetual influx of fo'eigners 

 into the United States. Thoufiiids have 

 been allured thither by fali'e ftatements 

 and delufive hopes, and numbers have fled 

 widi the money of their crediiois, cr to 

 avoid the punifliment which the hand of 

 the law was preparing to infliiff on their 

 crimes. Amongit thefe different claffea 

 of p'jople it is natural to imagine that 

 there muft have been many who detelfed 

 the re'draints of civilized fociety, particu- 

 larly the difhoneft and evil-minded, to 

 whom the unreftraincd life of favr.ges ap- 

 pears 



