ADVERTISEMENT

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THE SECOND EDITION.

THE early demand for a Second Edition of this work, affords decided evidence of the deep-felt interest which exists in the minds of the people of England upon the subject of Emigration to the United States.

With the success of my maiden effort I am much gratified, and hope most sincerely that the information contained in these "REPORTS" may be of benefit to my countrymen, and also assist in producing a correct and sound mode of thinking in relation to the country and people of America.

Some friends of general liberty have suggested that this work is calculated to injure the principles which they, in common with myself and my most intimate friends, revere if this is its tendency, nothing can be more opposite to my design; but I feel confident that the publi

cation of truth ought not, and indeed eventually cannot, be detrimental to the cause of political freedom and humán happiness.

That the state of things in the American Republic should be so opposite to what the advocates of enlightened opinions in Great Britain imagine, is a fact which none can deplore with greater sincerity than myself; but that, in my opinion, this difference is not chargeable upon the political principles of their government, will be seen by a perusal of the review of the American character, which commences at page 350., and to which I beg to direct the attention of the reflective reader.

I have to solicit indulgence for the grammatical errors which exist in the first impression, and have also to state, that my avocations will not allow me to attend to their correction in the present edition, at least sufficiently early to meet the public demand for the work.

Adam Street, Adelphi,

Nov. 6th, 1818.

H. B. FEARON.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

IN submitting the following pages to the Public, it is my wish that the reader should be put fairly in possession of the circumstances under which they were written.

I was deputed by a circle of friends, whose persons and whose interests are most dear to me, to visit the United States of America, in order to furnish them with materials to regulate their decision on the subject of emigration. Into the motives and the views which led to this proposed measure on their part, it is not requi site that I should enter much in detail; they are, I fear, known and felt too generally to render description necessary.

L

Emigration had, at the time of my appointment, assumed a totally new character: it was no longer merely the poor, the idle, the profligate, or the wildly speculative, who were proposing to quit their native country; but men also of capital, of industry, of sober habits and regular pursuits; men of reflection, who apprehended approaching evils ; men of upright and conscientious minds,

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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

to whose happiness civil and religious liberty were essential; and men of domestic feelings, who wished to provide for the future support and prosperity of their offspring.

Under such circumstances as these it was, that my friends directed their thoughts, in the way of enquiry merely, to the subject of emigration to America; having so done, they naturally set themselves seriously to investigate the state of the country and the character of the people; but, singular as it may appear, they were unable to obtain satisfactory information. Most of the books which they could procure contained statements which were evidently partial; some were written to exalt and some to vilify the situation of the country and its inhabitants, but none of them possessed that kind of information which was wanted by my friends; no lists of prices, of wages, rents, &c. *; no statements, or but imperfect ones, relative to individual trades or manufactures; little or nothing, in short, of that homely kind of intelligence which was wanted on such an occasion. It was, at length, resolved that some one should visit the country to make the necessary enquiries- the lot fell upon myself; but I owe it in justice both to the public

It may be proper to observe that, in the following pages, the prices of live stock, &c. are often stated in what may appear singular amounts; this arises from turning American dollars into British currency.