302 Letter to [Part III. 



2)erso7is is not, in the end, calculated to produce bene- 

 fit to America, as a nation, I greatly doubt of its bein^, 

 cieneralh) speaking, of any benefit to the emigrants them- 

 selves, if we take into view the chances of their speedy 

 relief at home. 



574. Persons of advanced age, of settled habits, of 

 deep rooted prejudices, of settled acquaintances, of con- 

 tracted sphere of movement, do not, to use Mr. George 

 Flower's expression, " transplant well." Of all such 

 persons. Farmers transplant worst ; and, of all Farmers, 

 English Farmers are the worst to transplant. Of some 

 oi^^c tears, shed in the Illinois, an account reached 

 me several months ago, through an eye-witness of per- 

 fect veracity, and a very sincere friend of freedom, 

 and of you, and whose information was given me, un- 

 asked for, and in the presence of several Englishmen, 

 every one of whom, as well as myself, most ardently 

 wished your success. 



575. It is nothing, my dear Sir, to say, as you do, 

 in the Preface to the Letters from the Illinois, that, as 

 " httle would I encourage the emigration of the tribe of 

 " ^m/ft6Zejs, people who are petulant and discontented 

 ♦' under the every-dai/ evils of life. Life has its petty 

 " miseries in all situations and climates, to be miti- 

 " gated or cured by the continual efforts of an elastic 

 " spirit, or to be borne, if incurable, with cheerful pa- 

 " tience. But the peevish emigrant is perpetually 

 " comparing the comforts he has quitted, but never 

 *' could enjoy, with the privations of his new allotment. 

 " He overlooks the present good, and broods over the 

 " evil with habitual perverseness ; wliilst in the recol- 

 " lection of the past, he dwells on the good only. Such 

 " people are always bad associates, but they are an 

 " especial nuisance in an infant colony." 



576. Give me leave to say, my dear Sir, that there 

 is too much asperitij in this language, considering who 

 were the objects of the censure. Nor do you appear 

 to me to afford, in this instance, a very happy illustra- 

 tion of the absence of that peevishness, which you per- 

 ceive in others, and for the yielding to which you call 

 thetn a nuisance ; an appellation much too harsh lor 

 the object and for the occasion. If you, with all your 



