1800.] 
£150 or £200 on chet landing ; and I 
found the moft fertile {pots ae! much en- 
cumbered with Germans» for a man to 
hope for rational fociety, Seanuetianal to 
the population. The Shenandoah valley 
is, perhaps, the leaft objectionable on this 
ead; but here the Germansare increafing. 
L went to Kentucky ; I wondered at ‘the 
milreprefentations of the Philadelphians, 
and the credulity of the Europeans. The 
luxuriance of the foil exceeds every thing 
which is to be met with in eaftern Ame- 
rica : 
winters and fickly falls of the Genefee 
country. 
feems to bea calleation of the river bot- 
toms of the reft of America. The pro- 
duce of an acre is double that of the She- 
nandoah valley; and you can fend it to 
market for lefs money. Lancafter county 
has been the moft flourifhing in Pennfylva- 
nia. £t cofts one dollar per barrel, 196]b. 
to fend fiour from Lancafter to Philadel- 
phia. They fend it for the fame from 
Kentucky to New Orleans; a'better port 
than Philadelphia, for the Weft India 
markets. But the advantages to be de- 
rived from this port cannot be realifed 
while it is in the hands of the Spaniards. 
Circumftances, however, juftity me in 
faying, that it cannot long remain in their 
hands. If the Armcricas have it not, 
the French or the Britith will. At prefent, 
however, the cultivators of the earth do 
not want a-recompence. In‘ confequence 
of the demands of the country for fpirits 
diftilled from grain, the demands of the 
army, of emigrants, of the Spanifh fet- 
tlements en the Miffifippi, &c. the far- 
mers are. in athriving way. The mer- 
chants make money faft, with reputation. 
Their cuftom is thought much of at Phil- 
adelphia. No.country affords better en- 
couragement to mechanics of every de- 
feription. Their wages are handiome; 
and provifions low. But it is faid, Eu- 
ropean goods are high. Anfwer, Mot 
farmers manufaGture. However, the ad- 
vance is not oy much above what it 1s 
200 or 300 miles from Philadelphia. At 
Wincheifter, eighty miles from a fea-port, 
the advance on the Englith coft is £63 per 
cent. At Kentucky it-is but a £100 per 
cent. On groceries and earthern-ware 
itis higher; but thefe muft be produced 
in the country. 
Again, it is faid, labour is extravagant. 
Anfwer, This is of no importance to the 
man who depends on the labour of his 
own family. Slave-labour, however, 
(maintenance, as well as firlt coft, being » 
confidered) is no higher than in Pennfylva- 
Letter’ from Mr. Toulmin of Kentucky. 
while it ts a ftranger to the cold 
The high lands of Kentucky’ 
551 
nia y and the man who objects to flavery, 
may give freedom to his flave, when he 
has ferved long encugh to indemnify him 
for the price he paid for him.’ There is, 
in a great proportion of the people, a dif- 
pofition to abolifh flavery ; ; and it is ridi- 
culous to’fay, that the heat of the climate 
will not admit of the abolition of it; as 
multitudes of perfons have always, culti-, 
tated their dance’ witheue the alliance os. 
flaves. ‘The heat is, in fact, nowreater. 
than in Pennfylvania ; but it may continue” 
more hours ina oat The winters aré 
not fo fevere as to require the long labo- 
rious preparation for them, that they do 
in Pennfyivania. 
3dly. Itis objected, that the land bears 
a price above its value. Anfwer, The 
univeri{al prejudices entertained againft 
this country in the fea-ports (where it is 
not really known, and where the fpecula- — 
tors in land are “generally to be found). 
‘render this idea very improbable. The 
fact is, that land in Kentucky has, in ge- 
neral, been upon a regular advance, a 
circumftance which proves that the value 
ftamped upon it is not artificial. At pre- 
fent, land which will produce, with very 
indifferent culture, from thirty to thirty- 
five bufhels of wheat per flatute acre 
(though encumbered with ftumps),: may 
be had, in the fate and fettled payts of the 
‘country, at from feven fhillings and fix- 
pence, fterling, to one guinea per fratute 
acre, a price at which, “I believe, much 
inferior land cannot be had in Pennfylvania, - 
without going thirty or forty miles from 
the habitations of mn. In K Zentucky, at 
this diftance from fettlements, it may be 
had at half a dollar, two ‘fhillings and 
three-pence, or lefs, per acre, in large 
bodies. And fuch land might be rem 
dered perfectly fate, and doubled in value, 
by laying lots of 100 acres in.1000, for 
any people of the country who choofe to 
fettle on them. 
athly. Another objection to He country 
is, its fituation with regard to the Indians. 
So frangely ig enorant are the people of the 
Atlantic States yrefpecting the countryon the 
weftern waters, that it has ever been faid,’- 
that, except within a few miles of Lexing- 
ton, the State is, in ean fubjeét to the 
incurfions of the Indians. Every one, 
however, who has lately been in the State 
of Kentucky, knows. this to be an idea 
altogether unfounded. I, myfelf, tra- 
velled, iv one direction, a diftance of 
nearly 200 miles, without being in any 
part which is not now confidered as per- . 
fecily “ee from the attacks of the 
favages.; a fecurity which arifes, not 
4B 2 from 
