MORRIS BIRKBECK, ESQ. 



would sooner live the life of a gypsy in England, than be a settler, 

 with less than five thousand pounds, in the Illinois ; and, if I had 

 the five thousand pounds, and was resolved to exchange England 

 for America, what in the name of common sense, should induce 

 me to go into a wild country, when I could buy a good farm of 

 200 acres, with fine orchard and good house and out-buildings, 

 and stock it completely, and make it rich as a garden, within twenty 

 miles of a great sea-port, affording me a ready market and a high 

 price for every article of my produce ? 



1027. You have, by this lime, seen more than you had seen, 

 when you wrote your &quot; Letters from the Illinois.&quot; You would 

 not, I am convinced, write such letters now. But, lest you should 

 not do it, it is right that somebody should counteract their delusive 

 effects ; and this I endeavour to do as much for the sake of this 

 country as for that of my own countrymen. For a good while I 

 remained silent, hoping that few 7 people would be deluded ; but 

 when I heard, that an old friend, and brother sportsman ; a 

 sensible, honest, frank, and friendly man, in Oxfordshire, whom 

 I will not name, had been seized with the Illinois madness, and 

 when I recollected, that he was one of those, who came to visit 

 me in prison, I could no longer hold my tongue ; for, if a man like 

 him ; a man of his sound understanding, could be carried away 

 by your representations, to what an extent must the rage have 

 gone ! 



1028. Mr. HULME visited you with the most friendly feelings. 

 He agrees with you perfectly as to notions about forms of govern 

 ment. He wished to give a good account of your proceedings. 

 His account is favourable ; but, his facts, which I am sure are 

 true, let out what I could not have known for certainty from any 

 other quarter. However, I do not care a farthing for the degrees 

 of goodness or of badness ; I say all new countries are all badness 

 for English farmers. I say, that their place is near the great cities 

 on the coast ; and that every step they go beyond forty miles from 

 those cities is a step too far. They want freedom : they have it 

 here. They want good land, good roads, good markets : they 

 have them all here. What should they run rambling about a 

 nation-making for ? What have they to do about extending 

 dominion and &quot; taming the wilderness ? &quot; If they speculate 

 upon becoming founders of republics, they will, indeed, do well 

 to get out of the reach of rivals. If they have a thirst for power, 

 they will naturally seek to be amongst the least informed part of 

 mankind. But, if they only want to keep their property and live 

 well, they will take up their abode on this side of the mountains 

 at least. 



1029. The grand ideas about the extension of the empire of the 

 United States are of very questionable soundness : and they 

 become more questionable from being echoed by the Edinburgh 

 Reviewers, a set of the meanest politicians that ever touched pen 

 and paper. Upon any great question, they never have been 



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