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AT a period when War was spreading desola¬ 
tion over the fairest parts of Europe, when anar¬ 
chy seemed to be extending its frightful pro¬ 
gress from nation to nation, and when the storms 
that were gathering over his native country * in 
particular, rendered it impossible to say how 
soon any one of its inhabitants might be forced 
to seek for refuge in a foreign land; the Au¬ 
thor of the following pages was induced to 
cross the Atlantic, for the purpose of examin¬ 
ing with his own eyes into the truth of the va¬ 
rious accounts which had been given of the 
flourishing and happy condition of the United 
States of America, and of ascertaining whether, 
in case of future emergency, any part of those 
territories might be looked forward to as an 
eligible and agreeable place of abode. Arrived 
in America, he travelled pretty generally through 
the states of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, 
Virginia, New Jersey, and New York ; he af¬ 
terwards passed into the Canadas, desirous of 
obtaining equal information as to the state 
of those provinces, and of determining from his 
own immediate observations, how far the pre¬ 
sent condition of the inhabitants of the British 
Cxsiltchi/t 
* Ireland, 
