TO 



MORRIS BIRKBECK, Esq., 



OF 

 ENGLISH PRAIRIE, ILLINOIS TERRITORY, 



North Hempstead, Long Island, 



10 Dec., 1818. 

 MY DEAR SIR, 



969. I HAVE read your two little books, namely, the &quot; Notes on 

 a Journey in America&quot; and the &quot; Letters from the Illinois.&quot; I 

 opened the books, and I proceeded in the perusal, with fear and 

 trembling : not because I supposed it possible for you to put forth 

 an intended imposition on the world ; but, because I had a sincere 

 respect for the character and talents of the writer ; and because 

 I knew how enchanting and delusive are the prospects of en 

 thusiastic minds, when bent on grand territorial acquisitions. 



970. My apprehensions were, I am sorry to have it to say, but 

 too well founded. Your books, written, I am sure, without any 

 intention to deceive and decoy, and without any even the smallest 

 tincture of base self-interest, are, in my opinion, calculated to 

 produce great disappointment, not to say misery and ruin, amongst 

 our own country people (for I will, in spite of your disavowal, 

 still claim the honour of having you for a countryman), and great 

 injury to America by sending back to Europe accounts of that 

 disappointment, misery, and ruin. 



971 . It is very true, that you decline advising any one to go to the 

 ILLINOIS, and it is also true, that your description of the hardships 

 you encountered is very candid ; but still, there runs throughout 

 the whole of your Notes such an account as to the prospect, that 

 is to say, the ultimate effect, that the book is, without your either 

 wishing or perceiving it, caloaJaJjed__tCL-4eceive and decoy. You 

 do indeed describe difficulties and hardsTtrr^T~HbaTrTrIen, you 

 overcome them all with so much ease and gaiety, that you make 



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