What A Detestable Idea
Such People Must Have Given To The Natives Of The Europeans!
They
trade with them, the worst of people are permitted to do that which
none but persons of the best characters should be employed in.
They
get drunk with them, and often defraud the Indians. Their avarice,
removed from the eyes of their superiors, knows no bounds; and aided
by the little superiority of knowledge, these traders deceive them,
and even sometimes shed blood. Hence those shocking violations,
those sudden devastations which have so often stained our frontiers,
when hundreds of innocent people have been sacrificed for the crimes
of a few. It was in consequence of such behaviour, that the Indians
took the hatchet against the Virginians in 1774. Thus are our first
steps trod, thus are our first trees felled, in general, by the most
vicious of our people; and thus the path is opened for the arrival
of a second and better class, the true American freeholders; the
most respectable set of people in this part of the world:
respectable for their industry, their happy independence, the great
share of freedom they possess, the good regulation of their
families, and for extending the trade and the dominion of our mother
country.
Europe contains hardly any other distinctions but lords and tenants;
this fair country alone is settled by freeholders, the possessors of
the soil they cultivate, members of the government they obey, and
the framers of their own laws, by means of their representatives.
This is a thought which you have taught me to cherish; our
difference from Europe, far from diminishing, rather adds to our
usefulness and consequence as men and subjects. Had our forefathers
remained there, they would only have crowded it, and perhaps
prolonged those convulsions which had shook it so long. Every
industrious European who transports himself here, may be compared to
a sprout growing at the foot of a great tree; it enjoys and draws
but a little portion of sap; wrench it from the parent roots,
transplant it, and it will become a tree bearing fruit also.
Colonists are therefore entitled to the consideration due to the
most useful subjects; a hundred families barely existing in some
parts of Scotland, will here in six years, cause an annual
exportation of 10,000 bushels of wheat: 100 bushels being but a
common quantity for an industrious family to sell, if they cultivate
good land. It is here then that the idle may be employed, the
useless become useful, and the poor become rich; but by riches I do
not mean gold and silver, we have but little of those metals; I mean
a better sort of wealth, cleared lands, cattle, good houses, good
clothes, and an increase of people to enjoy them.
There is no wonder that this country has so many charms, and
presents to Europeans so many temptations to remain in it. A
traveller in Europe becomes a stranger as soon as he quits his own
kingdom; but it is otherwise here. We know, properly speaking, no
strangers; this is every person's country; the variety of our soils,
situations, climates, governments, and produce, hath something which
must please everybody. No sooner does an European arrive, no matter
of what condition, than his eyes are opened upon the fair prospect;
he hears his language spoke, he retraces many of his own country
manners, he perpetually hears the names of families and towns with
which he is acquainted; he sees happiness and prosperity in all
places disseminated; he meets with hospitality, kindness, and plenty
everywhere; he beholds hardly any poor, he seldom hears of
punishments and executions; and he wonders at the elegance of our
towns, those miracles of industry and freedom. He cannot admire
enough our rural districts, our convenient roads, good taverns, and
our many accommodations; he involuntarily loves a country where
everything is so lovely. When in England, he was a mere Englishman;
here he stands on a larger portion of the globe, not less than its
fourth part, and may see the productions of the north, in iron and
naval stores; the provisions of Ireland, the grain of Egypt, the
indigo, the rice of China. He does not find, as in Europe, a crowded
society, where every place is over-stocked; he does not feel that
perpetual collision of parties, that difficulty of beginning, that
contention which oversets so many. There is room for everybody in
America; has he any particular talent, or industry? he exerts it in
order to procure a livelihood, and it succeeds. Is he a merchant?
the avenues of trade are infinite; is he eminent in any respect? he
will be employed and respected. Does he love a country life?
pleasant farms present themselves; he may purchase what he wants,
and thereby become an American farmer. Is he a labourer, sober and
industrious? he need not go many miles, nor receive many
informations before he will be hired, well fed at the table of his
employer, and paid four or five times more than he can get in
Europe. Does he want uncultivated lands? thousands of acres present
themselves, which he may purchase cheap. Whatever be his talents or
inclinations, if they are moderate, he may satisfy them. I do not
mean that every one who comes will grow rich in a little time; no,
but he may procure an easy, decent maintenance, by his industry.
Instead of starving he will be fed, instead of being idle he will
have employment; and these are riches enough for such men as come
over here. The rich stay in Europe, it is only the middling and the
poor that emigrate. Would you wish to travel in independent
idleness, from north to south, you will find easy access, and the
most cheerful reception at every house; society without ostentation,
good cheer without pride, and every decent diversion which the
country affords, with little expense. It is no wonder that the
European who has lived here a few years, is desirous to remain;
Europe with all its pomp, is not to be compared to this continent,
for men of middle stations, or labourers.
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