shop-keeper, who is at a great distance from the place, where the articles he deals in are procured, will add to the price, when he disposes of them, the additional expense of bringing, and the time lost in procuring them. To him, who is obliged to take a journey of a thousand miles to procure the articles that are to fill his ware-house, the cost and the trouble must be very great; and that cost and trouble he expects to be paid for, by the consumer. The journey which he is annually compelled to take, is a very serious one, compared to that of the shopkeeper of Susquehanna county, who can go to NewYork and back again in four days. The latter, in consequence of his situation, can trade with a smaller capital than the former; because he can, at any time, procure a supply of those articles of which he is in immediate need; while the former can lay in a supply only once a year. All these difficulties are to be paid for by the farmers and mechanics, who consume the articles imported; and the difference to them, in the course of a twelve-month, by receiving less for the articles they sell, and paying more for those which they purchase, will be found to be very great. It is not merely the quantum he shall raise, but the sum he shall get for it, which, constitutes the farmer's advantage. It is not simply to get enough to eat and drink, that is to bound the desires of the farmer; it is to procure the means of converting his log cabin into a handsome and convenient house; to erect a large barn for his grain,

and suitable buildings for his cattle; to educate his children, and, as he grows old, to enjoy the satisfaction of finding that his industry has supplied the comforts of life, and enabled him to satisfy the wants of society wants to which we are indebted for the amelioration of mankind. Perhaps it is even worse for the morals of the settler, distant from a market where he can exchange the articles in which he abounds, for those of which he is in want, that he is placed upon a fertile soil. The fertility gives him abundance; and he cannot dispose of his surplus. The consequence is, a want of stimulus to industry. He finds, that the labour of three days in the week, will support his family, and he will not work six; for the produce of the other three, will be of no service to him. He cannot build his house, his barn, nor his granary with it. Hence, he becomes idle. He finds neighbours like himself. He takes his gun, and goes into the woods to hunt, or to some neighbouring log house at which whiskey is sold, and where he is sure to find persons in his own situation, led there by the same feelings which govern him; with those he consumes his time, shooting at marks, or matching his miserable horse to run against some other miserable horse; and thus the day, that in more fortunate situations would have been spent in healthful industry, is squandered in riot and intemperance. It is reasonable to expect such consequences to flow from the situations I have mentioned; and such, I have been assured by intel

ligent travellers, is the case. I do not rest on the narration of our own countrymen, who have returned dissatisfied with the western wilderness; American travellers themselves, are obliged to acknowledge the universal prevalence of these ruinous habits. That we should find a proneness to quarrel in minds that have thus shaken off the salutary restraints of society, is to be expected. Even Mr. Birkbeck, who has been so fortunate as to find quarrelling rare, mentions the case of a member of a religious community, who "on being brought before "the spiritual court, for indulging a propensity to "boxing, and hearing all the arguments derived "from texts of Scripture, which oppose that un"christian practice, declared that he should not like "to live longer than he had a right to knock down any man who told him he lied." Mr. Schultz, in his description of the country near St. Louis, on the Mississippi, in the immediate neighbourhood of Illinois, mentions that "it is a very unpleasant place "of residence, as the continual broils and quarrels amongst the workmen, as well as the proprietors, keep up a constant scene of warfare. You would certainly feel yourself in very suspicious company, "were you to discover that most of those amongst "whom you were, wore a concealed dagger, and "sometimes even two, one in the bosom, and another "under the coat; whilst others carried a brace of pistols in the girdle behind the back. I have “heard of a number of quarrels since I have been

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here, and of two or three being wounded by pis"tol shot, but no lives were lost; which has rather "been owing to a precipitancy of firing, than want "of inclination to kill. It is not always that an "honourable challenge takes place on account of an "affront or difference of opinion; but an instantaneous plunge of the dirk, or a pistol to your face, is the "first signal of war. They have however become so naturalized to these ideal dangers, that of three "shots made within two yards of the object, none was followed by any thing more serious than the "loss of three fingers on one hand, and a hole through the lower part of the crown of a hat, grazing the skin and hair. This bad, or good luck, "is owing to the activity of the antagonist, who is generally aware of his opponent's intention, and prepared to knock his pistol up with his own, as soon as it is presented. Rifle barrelled pistols are altogether used at this place, and likewise at Ge"nevieve; and pistol shooting at a mark for wagers, seems to be a very general kind of amusement among the people."

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Much more of this kind might be quoted from American authors, and I should prefer quoting from them; for we cannot suspect them of having any intention to deceive, especially when they speak against the habits of their own countrymen, in particular places; but I have already adduced enough to convince you that the western part of the United States is a place, if report speak correctly of it, that

would promise nearly as much work for a surgeon as a physician. At any rate these representations from so many sources, were sufficient to induce me to set my face another way, and to make me seek to discover a place, where a husbandman might find sufficient inducements to call forth his industry "and bear

At distance safe, the human tempest roar,
Wrapt close in conscious peace."

"its

This is completely the case in Susquehanna county, where, I am informed, that during the late war between the United States and Great Britain, disturbances were known only by the arrival of the mail."* How different is this from the frontier situation of the western states, whose infant settlements are always exposed to the scalping knife of the savages! In my estimation of the advantages which different places might offer to settlers, security would be a most important consideration. That desideratum is, I think, possessed in the greatest possible degree by this place, which is equally remote

*This remark is quoted from a description of Mr. Rose's possessions in this county, with an engraved view of his mansion, which appeared in "the Port Folio," for June, 1816. This miscellany published monthly, is edited by J. E. Hall, Esq. and was commenced in the year 1801. It may be procured in London, and it deserves the attention of an emigrant, on account of its sketches of life and manners and other particulars respecting this country.