INTRODUCTION TO THE JOURNAL 



868. Before I conclude this Introduction, I must observe, that 

 I see with great pain, and with some degree of shame, the 

 behaviour of some persons from England, who appear to think 

 that they give proof of their high breeding by repaying civility, 

 kindness, and hospitality, with reproach and insolence. However, 

 these persons are despised. They produce very little impression 

 here ; and, though the accounts they send to England, may be 

 believed by some, they will have little effect on persons of sense 

 and virtue. Truth will make its way ; and it is, thank God, now 

 making its way with great rapidity. 



869. I could mention numerous instances of Englishmen, 

 coming to this country with hardly a dollar in their pocket, arid 

 arriving at a state of ease and plenty and even riches in a few 

 years ; and I explicitly declare, that I have never known or heard 

 of, an instance of one common labourer who, with common 

 industry and economy, did not greatly better his lot. Indeed, 

 how can it otherwise be, when the average wages of agricultural 

 labour is double what it is in England, and when the average price 

 of food is not more than half what it is in that country ? These 

 two facts, undeniable as they are, are quite sufficient to satisfy 

 any man of sound mind. 



870. As to the manners of the people, they are precisely to my 

 taste : unostentatious and simple. Good sense I find every 

 where, and never affectation. Kindness, hospitality, and never- 

 failing civility. I have travelled more than four thousand miles 

 about this country ; and I never met with one single insolent or 

 rude native American. 



871. I trouble myself very little about the party politics of the 

 country. These contests are the natural offspring of freedom ; 

 and, they tend to perpetuate that which produces them. I look 

 at the people as a whole : and I love them and feel grateful to 

 them for having given the world a practical proof, that peace, 

 social order, and general happiness can be secured, and best 

 secured, without Monarchs, Dukes, Counts, Baronets, and 

 Knights. I have no unfriendly feeling towards any Religious 

 Society. I wish well to every member of every such Society ; 

 but, I love the Quakers, and feel grateful towards them, for having 

 proved to the world, that all the virtues, public as well as private, 

 flourish most and bring forth the fairest fruits when unincumbered 

 with those noxious weeds, hireling priests. 



THOMAS HULME. 



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