520 LETTER TO [PART III. 



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 " Notes on a Journey in America" 

 " and the Letters from the Illinois." 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 im 

 position 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 enthusiastic 

 minds, when bent on grand territorial acquisi 

 tions. 



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 



